If you enjoy reading novels by Kazuo Ishiguro then you might also like the following authors:
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author whose novels blend reality and surreal elements in deeply emotional narratives. If you appreciate Kazuo Ishiguro’s thoughtful storytelling, you might enjoy Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore.”
The novel follows two parallel journeys: fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura, a runaway seeking to escape a cryptic prophecy, and Nakata, an elderly man who has a special talent for talking with cats.
As the characters’ paths intertwine, Murakami uncovers a mysterious world filled with strange happenings—ranging from raining fish to unexplained occurrences—and powerful metaphors.
Both thoughtful and imaginative, this story invites you into a dreamlike landscape where the ordinary and extraordinary meet.
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian author known for exploring deep human emotions and thought-provoking futures. If you enjoy Kazuo Ishiguro’s quiet yet powerful stories about humanity and memory, Atwood may offer a similarly rewarding experience.
Her novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” presents a bleak future society, Gilead, where women have lost their rights and freedoms under a brutal regime.
Told through the eyes of Offred, a woman forced into reproductive servitude, the story examines identity, loss, and survival with detail and subtlety.
Atwood’s style creates a connection with the protagonist’s quiet hope and internal struggles, which Ishiguro readers may find appealing.
Readers who enjoy Kazuo Ishiguro’s thoughtful storytelling and careful exploration of human emotion may appreciate Ian McEwan’s novels. McEwan often writes about complex relationships, ethical dilemmas, and the hidden tension beneath everyday experiences.
In his book “Atonement,” he explores a young girl’s misunderstanding that changes several lives forever. Set against the backdrop of war, the story looks closely at guilt, love, and regret, showing how one moment’s choices echo through a lifetime.
McEwan offers readers careful, precise writing and deeply drawn characters, qualities that Ishiguro fans often enjoy.
Readers who enjoy Kazuo Ishiguro’s thoughtful exploration of memory and personal history may appreciate Julian Barnes. Barnes is a British author known for sharp reflections on love, loss, and the unreliable nature of human memory.
In his novel “The Sense of an Ending,” Barnes introduces Tony Webster, a protagonist forced to revisit long-forgotten school friendships after receiving an unexpected inheritance.
As Tony seeks to piece together his past, what he believed to be firm certainties begin to shift, uncovering uncomfortable truths about himself and those he cared for.
Like Ishiguro’s characters who confront blurred lines between perception and reality, Tony’s journey challenges readers to question the truthfulness of their own memories.
Jhumpa Lahiri offers stories that deeply explore cultural displacement and quiet emotional struggles, themes readers of Kazuo Ishiguro will easily appreciate.
Her collection, “Interpreter of Maladies,” captures the daily realities and emotional gaps faced by Indian immigrants in America. Each tale portrays the subtle disappointments and desires hidden in everyday life.
In one story, titled “A Temporary Matter,” a young married couple experiences unexpected power outages, prompting intimate confessions and hidden truths that carefully unfold under cover of darkness.
Lahiri’s clear prose and attention to detail gently carry readers through experiences of longing, isolation, and identity. Fans of Ishiguro’s thoughtful exploration of human relationships may find Lahiri’s insights similarly rewarding.
Books by David Mitchell often combine thoughtful storytelling with imaginative and complex plots. If you’ve enjoyed Kazuo Ishiguro’s storytelling style, then Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas” might interest you. This novel is structured like a puzzle.
It weaves together six distinct narratives that span different time periods and genres. There is a 19th-century voyage in the Pacific, a detective thriller set in the 1970s, and even stories set in a distant, mysterious future.
Each narrative connects subtly but meaningfully to the next, exploring themes of humanity, destiny, and interconnectedness. Mitchell’s writing brings depth to characters and makes readers care deeply about their journeys.
The creative format and the thoughtful themes tackled in “Cloud Atlas” can appeal strongly to those who appreciate Kazuo Ishiguro’s subtle yet powerful approach to storytelling.
Books by Japanese author Yoko Ogawa share a quiet yet deeply unsettling quality often found in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels. In “The Housekeeper and the Professor,” Ogawa explores gentle human connections, memory, and the fragility of relationships.
The story follows a brilliant mathematician whose memory lasts only eighty minutes due to an accident. His new housekeeper must introduce herself each day but gradually forms an unexpected bond with him through mathematics and a shared tenderness.
Fans of Ishiguro’s subtle storytelling and emotional depth may find Ogawa’s novel particularly satisfying.
Colm Tóibín is an Irish author known for thoughtful novels that explore subtle human emotions and personal relationships. If you enjoy the sensitive and introspective storytelling of Kazuo Ishiguro, you might really appreciate Tóibín’s novel “Brooklyn.”
It’s a quiet yet emotionally powerful story set in the 1950s. We meet Eilis Lacey, a young woman who leaves Ireland and moves to Brooklyn in search of a new life. The novel beautifully captures her intense nostalgia, internal dilemmas, and quiet courage.
Tóibín writes gently but convincingly, giving importance to small moments and subtle feelings. The atmosphere is intimate and immersive. Readers will find a meaningful and authentic portrayal of a lost-but-hopeful young woman trying to establish herself in a new country.
Michael Ondaatje is an author whose storytelling carries emotional depth and complexity that fans of Kazuo Ishiguro often appreciate. His novel “The English Patient” unfolds in Italy at the end of World War II.
In a deserted villa, four strangers—a nurse, a thief, a Sikh sapper, and a mysterious man burned beyond recognition—find their lives intersect. Through memory and haunting confessions, each character reveals past loves and hidden secrets.
Ondaatje’s storytelling carefully pieces together their stories, gradually illuminating the connections that tie them to each other. His profound sense of time and memory will resonate deeply with readers who love Ishiguro’s intimate approach to character.
Books by Ali Smith often blur the line between reality and imagination, much as readers of Kazuo Ishiguro might appreciate. Smith has a talent for clever dialogue, subtle humor, and stories full of emotional depth.
Her novel “Autumn” explores the friendship between a young art historian named Elisabeth and her elderly neighbor Daniel.
Through fragmented memories and rich conversations, we experience their unique connection, set against the backdrop of a changing Britain after the Brexit vote.
With poetic language and strong characters, Smith creates a thoughtful reflection on art, time, and human relationships.
Rachel Cusk is a Canadian-born British novelist known for her precise, thoughtful prose and deep exploration of human relationships. Readers who appreciate Kazuo Ishiguro’s subtle yet profound storytelling might also connect strongly with Cusk’s novel “Outline.”
This book introduces readers to a writer named Faye who visits Athens to teach a creative writing course. Throughout a series of conversations, Faye listens closely to the narratives of others while gradually revealing glimpses of her own life.
The storytelling quietly explores themes of identity, loss, and self-discovery through dialogue and reflection. The rhythm of Cusk’s writing, calm yet vivid, is reminiscent of the nuanced reflections found in Ishiguro’s narratives.
Books by Sebastian Barry often explore memory, identity, and history in a way that readers of Kazuo Ishiguro might appreciate. In “The Secret Scripture,” Barry introduces readers to Roseanne McNulty, a nearly hundred-year-old woman confined in a mental institution for decades.
As her facility faces closure, Dr. Grene takes an interest in her life story and starts reviewing old documents. Roseanne quietly writes her personal account of the turbulent events that led to her confinement.
Together, their separate narratives slowly uncover the hidden truths of Roseanne’s past, revealing family secrets, historical prejudices, and memories blurred by time.
Barry’s gentle storytelling reveals how unreliable memory can be and how people often reconstruct their past to survive painful realities. If you’ve enjoyed Ishiguro’s thoughtful reflection on memory and identity, Barry’s storytelling may resonate with you.
Amitav Ghosh is an Indian author known for thoughtfully exploring complex human relationships, identity, and memory. If you appreciate Kazuo Ishiguro’s subtle and reflective storytelling style, Ghosh’s novel “The Shadow Lines” may resonate with you.
The book follows the narrator’s memories across Calcutta, London, and Dhaka, uncovering how significant events shape personal lives and collective history.
Characters in this story grapple with family secrets and shifting political borders, revealing how powerful and fragile our identities and connections can become over time. Ghosh gently weaves history into everyday experiences and delivers a poignant narrative worth exploring.
Anne Tyler writes novels known for subtle yet profound examinations of family life and human relationships. Her characters are ordinary people, flawed but gently portrayed, in ways readers of Kazuo Ishiguro would appreciate.
In her novel “Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant,” Tyler explores the Tull family’s complex bonds and misunderstandings across several decades. It begins when Pearl, deserted by her husband, raises their three children on her own.
Each sibling recalls their shared past differently, revealing how memory shapes identity and family ties. Tyler captures the small hurts and quiet joys of everyday life with sensitivity that resonates deeply.
Readers drawn to Ishiguro’s reflective and character-driven narratives may find themselves similarly moved by Tyler’s thoughtful storytelling.
Kent Haruf writes with a quiet power and emotional depth that may resonate with readers who appreciate Kazuo Ishiguro’s restrained storytelling and thoughtful, authentic characters.
Haruf’s novel “Plainsong” follows interconnected lives in the small town of Holt, Colorado, where struggles and daily joys subtly blend against the stark backdrop of rural America.
The story centers on two aging brothers, gentle-hearted ranchers, whose routine-driven lives are changed when a pregnant teenager comes to live with them.
Haruf unfolds each character’s journey through nuanced prose, creating vivid images of community, loneliness, kindness, and hope. If you like Ishiguro’s beautiful exploration of human connections and understated drama, Haruf’s “Plainsong” might be a meaningful read.